The Queen's Fool
by Anon Masako
Summary: Demando looks back on his life.


Title: The Queen's Fool  
Author: Anon Masako  
Email: sandryrose85@yahoo.com  
Rating: PG or G  
Disclaimer: Ah, the long list of 'I don't own'(s). Nostalgic, eh?  
I do not own Sailor Moon.  
I do not own the song 'Send in the Clowns.' It is a piece of music from 'A Little Night Music' and written by Stephen Sondheim.   
My inspiration for this story (especially the chess theme) came from Jane Yolen's book 'The Queen's Own Fool.' I highly recommend it, btw. ^_^  
Thanks: A really big thanks to Sailor Opal, my wonderful beta. Thanks, Opal-chan!  
Author's Notes: It's almost amusing the way I'm sending this out after my big snit a few days ago. ^_^ My amusement aside, this is dedicated to Meredith-sama. I hope I do your favorite character justice.   
~~~  
I was a good Nemesian child, the example my brother and friends were supposed to follow.  
One wonders whether this was because I was good, or if it was the fact that I was the heir apparent.  
  
~  
Isn't it rich?  
~  
  
I learned chess as a child. At first it was a game played with marble figurines. Later it became strategic sets of moves- though still amusing, in it's own way- with people as the pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks.   
For instance, my brother Saffir. He was my easiest pawn to control, and my smartest.   
Esmeraude was another. It was easy to capture her 'loyalty', even easier than my brother's. With her began my penchant for toying with and deserting women.   
At first, it was the same way with my golden angel. Amusing for a while, but a toy nonetheless.   
I was baffled when it developed into something... different.  
  
~  
Are we a pair?  
Me here at last on the ground, you in mid-air.  
~  
  
I first saw her on an earthen news broadcast that reaches our moon occasionally. She caught my eye, and at that time it didn't even register in my mind what she was- the Queen or Earth.  
I didn't notice that she was married, either.   
Not that it would have mattered. People were pawns to me, remember?  
  
~  
Send in the clowns...  
~  
  
In some earthen countries, the bishops that stand next to the queen and king in chess are fools instead.   
Not pawns, not bishops, but fools- jesters.  
So, instead of a prince, a king, was I the fool in my own game of power?  
  
~  
Isn't it bliss?  
Don't you approve?   
One always tearing around, one who can't move...  
~  
  
So I began learning about my prospective toy. I put Saffir to the job of searching out the information- for such is the job of pawns.  
But the more I learned about her, the more I observed her, the less it became a conquest and the more it became... something else.   
  
~  
Where are the clowns?  
Send in the clowns.  
~  
  
It soon became apparent to me that to capture this queen the game would be far more difficult than the norm.   
For instance, instead of two knights, she had eight- those blasted senshi. And I would also need to remove the little bunny and the king.   
I didn't think it would require more than a few careful moves of my pawns.  
  
~  
Just when I'd stopped  
opening doors,  
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours...  
~  
  
But the king was harder to kill than I thought. Even to get a simple audience (in which I would rationally tell him my desire and proceed to calmly destroy him) would take months.  
He was simply impossible to catch.  
Damn the man...  
Still, I thought my victory was assured when I brought my strongest attack yet against Crystal Tokyo.   
Check... and mate.  
  
~  
Making my entrance again with my usual flair,  
Sure of my lines...  
~  
  
Why did she run out unprotected?  
I had planned to vanquish the king, senshi, and child then proceed to enter the castle (where any decent queen would be when a battle was waging) and sweep her off her feet. I thought free of her gilded chains she would run into my arms.   
But instead she ran out to try to save her audacious rabbit-child. She knew that one of my blasts could easily go astray- maybe she expected them to.  
And that's exactly what happened.  
I literally couldn't move as I watched it speed toward her.   
But the senshi were prepared. She was encased in a casket of crystal and sent into the castle before I could blink an eye. (One side of me wanted to kiss them.)  
In seconds the rabbit child had disappeared with the garnet-eyed Pluto, the senshi had retreated and the king with them. A shield of power rose around the palace.  
The attack was over.  
No golden angel. No queen for the Nemesians. She was surrounded by her king, her knights, and her own pawns. But her fool was trapped outside of the walls.  
And a fool should always be by his queen's side.  
  
~  
...No one is there...  
  
Don't you love farce?  
My fault, I fear.  
I thought that you'd want what I'd want.  
Sorry, my dear.  
~  
  
I can laugh at my behavior here, now.   
Albeit rather bitterly.  
I made a lot of mistakes then. This time, I won't. I will stand aside and simply watch.  
  
~  
But where are the clowns?  
Quick send in the clowns!  
... don't bother...  
They're here.  
Isn't it rich?  
Isn't it queer?   
Losing my timing this late in my career.  
~  
  
When I died in her arms, her younger self's arms, after that final battle, I could swear that there was a spark of affection in her tone.  
A spark is all it takes to light a fire.   
Perhaps, if I had known her earlier, on better terms, she would have been mine.  
  
~  
And where are the clowns?  
There aught to be clowns.  
Well, maybe next year...  
~  
  
So, today, as I watch the eldest daughter of the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo wed the High Priest of Elysion, I will simply watch.  
Because in this life, I will make no trouble for my angel and her kin.  
I am no longer the queen's fool.  
  



End file.
